What is even sadder is that I can totally see this kind of thing being an issue given how Richt defended directional kicking, not being in the arena, and wearing black helmets and pants vs. Florida. If it comes down to this kind of nonsense, then just fire the entire staff now.

Richt should turn getting to wear #1 into a weekly contest between the two players, come up with a point system (TD = 10pts, INT = 10pts, 1 rushing yrd = .25 pts, etc), whoever performs the best each week gets to wear #1 the following week.

I’m not too concerned about getting penalized for having them both on the field at the same time. But I can absolutely see them blowing a timeout in that situation – well, uhhh, if they haven’t already blown all their timeouts. So if it happens, I hope it happens very early in the first or third quarter.

Speaking of horrible time management, does anyone recall the goof that occurred at the end of the half of the Arkansas game last year regarding time management? I have a lot to work to do today and I need some motivation from some good ol’ fashioned rageahol.

I guess once that conversation is made we will see who really wants to step up for the team. Though relinquishing a number is hardly taking a huge hit. Personally I say give Crowell number 4 and not make everything this off season about him. He probably has a big enough head already.

Just for the sake of clarity and because I know someone else will do it: Actually, Washaun was #3, Caleb was #4. But I would think those numbers might spark someone’s interest, especially if a little pressure is added.

that is the sort of absurdity that has come to define uga football these last few years, i’m afraid, so i guess i wouldn’t be surprised if we’re talking about it in some fashion come september.

i’ve been (in hindsight) overly optimistic about things going into the last two seasons. but i find that i’m more and more pessimistic as the season approaches this time: i just can’t escape the feeling that this “thing” has a momentum of its own now and that there is an unpleasant inevitability being staged.

Yeah, but don’t kid yourself: deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you’ve looked at that schedule, the recruiting class, Aaron Murray, the weak state of the SEC East and said to yourself, “you know, it’s not totally crazy thinking they could get back to Atlanta this year.”

sure: anyone who is a fan will be given over to positive reveries no matter how contrary the evidence may be. this capacity is what keeps lots of people intensely interested in such organizations as the chicago cubs, for instance.

I think I first became aware of this issue on signing day, and it’s been a source of growing concern for me ever since. I may be guilty of reading too much into the issue, but it’s the single biggest factor that makes me concerned that IC may not be everything we’re hoping he is. I understand that the kid really, really wants to wear the #1 jersey. But any kid who is willing to base the decision of where he goes to college even partially upon what shirt he gets to wear is at least a little concerned about the wrong things. Richt promised the kid the jersey, which I think is also a mistake since it handcuffs the offense. But when you’re basically saying that you’re going into the season gameplanning to never have two of your most explosive athletes on the field at the same time due to a fashion concern, you’re gameplanning to fail.

Crowell needs to realize that he’s a freshman and step up and take another jersey for a couple of years to bring some versatility to our offensive gameplan. It really is that simple. Changing your shirt adds literally dozens of plays to the playbook. Hell, even Washaun Ealey, model of selflessness at Georgia, wore a different shirt until Bryan Evans graduated and opened up the #3 jersey, and Evans never played offense. The fact that he’s willing to limit the offense just to wear a number he likes makes me worry that he’s got some other selfish attitudes that may hold him back as he gets ready to take over for two disappointing running backs.

To be fair, I don’t know that it was a “requirement”, necessarily. I don’t know that it was a deal breaker, but I’ve read other places that Georgia agreeing to give him the #1 jersey was a factor in his decision. It was definitely promised by Richt, which is why the coach’s hands appear to be tied on the issue now.

We’ve lost 12 games the past two years. We only lost 13 games in the first five years of Richt’s tenure. He’s done a great job overall, and it’s my fervent hope he’s the one to get UGA back on top, but I’m not as sure that’s going to happen as I once was. We’ve lost more games than the year before every year since 07. I thought 09 was the bottom. I hope 10 was, but I’m going to have to see it.

I’m not a fan of Saban, but this type of issue would never happen under his watch – not in a million years. The fact that it’s even remotely an issue at GA and under Mark Richt is both infuriating and depressing.

Perhaps I’m missing something here, Scott. Every team with more than 100 players (walk-ons included) has duplicate numbers. Many teams have had players who actually play with duplicate numbers. The issue here is that one of the players involved is a two-way player, and a potential impact player on offense. None of the duplicates on Alabama’s list appear to be two-way players. One’s on offense, one’s on defense. Is this supposed to be some major piece of detective work? Why’d you have to go all the way back to 2008? I guarantee you that other Alabama rosters have had the same thing, as have all schools.

Detective work? No. It took me less time to find that roster than you took to reply. If you think Darling Nicky would not put up with the hassle of having two players with the same number on the field at the same time, as a condition of him signing with Bama, then you are fooling yourself. You’re letting your man crush for Nicky get in the way of Nicky’s desire to win……even if it means he has to manage jersey numbers on the field.

Sorry, slick, but I don’t have a man crush on Nick Saban. However, you’re right, I do think Saban does have a pretty insatiable desire to win. I think it’s the only thing in the universe that matters to him. So much so, that I think if Saban had the opportunity to line up a Branden Smith at wideout, where he was pretty thin, and also have a good running back on the field, I think he’s going to take that opportunity. And I think that he’d probably promise the jersey to the kid and then take it away from him as soon as he was signed. I personally don’t think that’s the way to do it, but I also don’t think he’d tie the hands of his offense with his job hanging in the balance just so a freshman could have the number he wants. To avoid any other assumptions on your part about me, I’m one of the biggest Mark Richt boosters around. I think Richt is making a mistake here.

Agree with you Jax — this would not happen at Bama under Saban. But promising someone else’s number was & is standard recruiting practice at any other SEC school, even (more like especially) at Florida under Meyer. The only difference is that we can assume that Meyer, Spurrier, Chizik, Mullen, Dooley — everyone except Les Miles — would have a stick-on cover-up number ready to shoot his 2-way player into an offensive formation. Miles, of course, would get a penalty, but it would wipe out the other team’s game-winning pick-6.

Personally, I wouldn’t get too pissed about this one. If Richt really trips over himself with a crucial Smith/Crowell penalty, he’s likely no longer in it to win it, and we can move on with more of a clear conscience. If not, we get a big gainer and sing with the band.

Well, they don’t have actually change numbers. They just can’t wear #1 at the same time. By rule, a player can change numbers during the course of the game. A lot of teams do this w/ a player who might play a little tackle and a little tight end.

So, theoretically, Branden could switch to another number during the change of possession. Of course, my biggest fear there is that Branden would return a punt and we’d want to use him on first down and we can’t because he’s switching numbers.

As far as the recruiting, you’re making too big of a deal of it “Go Dawgs.” Coaches promise numbers all the time. We got Hastings in ’90 becaue #1 was open. Also, we have been one of the few teams in America that haven’t had double numbers in recent years. South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Texas and USC have all recently had starters on each side of the ball wear the same numbers.

You have to look at on the flip side. Would you rather Crowell be in T-town because of a stinkin’ number, if that’s all it was going to take?

This issue will reveal a lot about our coaching staff and our focus for the season. If it is never a problem and gets worked out, we’ll know that we’re on top of our game.

Why, in a million years, should Branden be the one who changes jerseys? Crowell’s a freshman, Branden is a junior. If Crowell thinks that an upperclassman should have to change jerseys just to share the field with him, we’ve got problems, gang. I’m a Columbus native and a big Crowell booster, but this sort of thing can be a symptom of attitude problems.

Again, can somebody please privde me a link on why this has become such a hot topic? Are we even certain they are both wearing #1? The closest I’ve seen to this being official is from a supposed comment on PWD’s blog.

Good point. We very well could be getting punked, and that’s really hard to do, by some prankster sullying our honor with uncalled for insinuations and innuendo. Either that or maybe he just who heard it from his wife’s sister, a stripper who’s banging the locker room laundry guy.

Thanks, I hadn’t seen that. Thus my apathy towards all this uproar. Even having seen that article, I think it may be a bit naive to think something like that would truly be an obstacle for our coaches. If they really want those guys on the field at the same time, they’ll figure it out. I realize it’s July, but come on guys, there are other things to worry about than whether or not CMR and company will figure out how to get Smith and Crowell on the field at the same time due to duplicate numbers.

Also, a bit off topic, but I saw an interesting, relatively unnoticed quote in the second link. Somebody said the other day on the CK thread that Boo wasn’t going to be any good because we hadn’t really heard much about him. How’s this for subtle praise from CMR himself…

“…He looked a little bit like we saw last fall in him and made us contemplate taking him out of his redshirt.”

Awesome! Athens Townie said that in response to me not jumping out of the same window as everyone else after Caleb got the boot. Its like these “fans” throw everything positive out or just assume its a lie…..but give them something negative to talk about and its taken as the gospel.

Actually, I think I mentioned that Boo being at the bottom of the depth chart was possibly a sign that he wasn’t about to set the world on fire. By all means, Boo, prove me wrong.

Only the extremely neurotic and/or negative would jump out the window over #4’s departure. Just the same, only the overly optimistic would try to frame #4’s departure as something that was not a negative for the team.

What you’re complaining about is fine and I agree — extremely negative people will always find the good and make it bad, find the bad and make it worse, etc. But there’s also a segment of the fan base that does the opposite and tries to portray departures like this or anything else bad for the program as The Little Mermaid.

I’m well aware that numbers get promised all the time. However, I think it’s more rare for a team to promise a player a number when it means that one of their most gifted “secret” weapons on offense won’t get to play offense anymore if the promisee happens to also be on the field at a particular moment.

“This issue will reveal a lot about our coaching staff and our focus for the season. If it is never a problem and gets worked out, we’ll know that we’re on top of our game.”

That seems somewhat of a low bar for our well-paid coaching staff to have to hurdle to be on top of their game. After all, how hard can it be to assign jersey numbers among divas? I would have guessed our coaches would at least have to get an SEC East title to be considered to be on top of their game.

The “butt cut” is bad. Real bad. But he’s hanging onto that longer than he hung onto Willie. He needs to ditch his Oakleys and replace them with fringed Beyonce diva sunglasses, which will distract from his hair-do

Honestly… zero percent chance this is an issue come Labor Day weekend. I like what someone said about Thomas Brown or even Tony Gilbert having a chat with these guys outlining what it means to be on a TEAM. Hopefully, both of them drop their number in some sort of unified team act.

Everyone is seeing this jersey number as another classic mistake by the staff.
But what this post presupposes is … maybe it isn’t.
I am incredibly cynical of this staff but consider that though you can’t have Crowell and Smith on the field at the same time you can switch them out and perhaps in the hectic, frantic course of play the opposing defense may confuse one #1 with another and that may cost them because they are entirely different runners. Perhaps the staff has considered this and will use it to their advantage in a no huddle offense for a couple of series?

Good Lord….what a bunch of negative, whining babies. Let’s see how this goes before we all show up at Richt’s house with pitch forks! Those quotes/links above are from before Ealey or King left….it may be a little different now. On top of that, Bobo said it was something they would have to figure out. Sounds like the staff is aware and will handle it to me. And, all this talk about how terrible a coach Richt is if we get a penalty related to this….I hate to break it to you, but Urban Meyer’s UF team has been penalized for this exact thing on special teams. Does that mean he sucks at coaching or just doesn’t care? No, it doesn’t mean anything. You people can find anything and use it to bash our own coaches and players. Its ridiculous! Now Crowell is some kind of prima donna, me first guy because he has a favorite number? I may be younger than some of you other posters but I distinctly remember getting my number to be a very big deal in high school…..it was a big deal to everyone. It didn’t mean we didn’t want to win. Give it a rest.

Mark! Stop posting as Willie DAWG! and get back in the film room to study football and stop screwing around with the jersey numbers. Worry about not letting Steve beat you again. SRQ’s trying to help you but no, you can’t resist and have to take a Bulldog Joe shot against Urban. What good does it do? You’re not saying anything that everybody doesn’t already know. Give it a rest.

Not only did he survive, he did so well against the shark that they thought they’d make him one so they put him in a witness protection program as a lawyer somewhere, same thing I heard about Blutarsky